Timothy Moses Sentenced To 60 Years In Prison For Beating Death Of Girlfriend

A Sioux Falls man who admitted to killing his girlfriend in December of 2014 has been sentenced to 60 years in prison. As part of a plea deal, 40-year-old Timothy Moses pleaded guilty to 1st degree manslaughter in the beating death of Angel Schroeder.

The judge imposed the maximum sentenced allowed in the plea deal. That’s exactly what Schroeder’s family asked for in court Wednesday.

Family and friends packed the Minnehaha County courtroom; almost all of them wearing purple shirts, paying tribute to Schroeder.

Schroeder’s Mother Shane Brandt said, “She was like a little elf sometimes and she was funny and she couldn’t sing but she sang all the time and she had the most musical laugh anybody’s every had. I just miss her.”

Police say they found Schroeder dead on the bathroom floor at her home on the 1000 block of West 22nd Street on Dec. 28, 2014 after they were asked to check on her boyfriend, Timothy Moses’ well being. Both had been drinking and Moses claims he doesn’t remember choking or beating her, while her young son and his friend heard her cries upstairs. Brandt says Angel never discussed their abusive relationship.

Brandt said, “For reasons I’ll never understand, my daughter did not use her voice because if she had we would not be here today.”

Before Moses was sentenced, Brandt addressed the court. She says the last time she saw her daughter’s smile was on Dec. 24 and Christmas will never be the same.

Brandt looked at Moses and said, “Satan takes on many forms and I’m looking at one of them.”

Moses also spoke in court and said, “I ask you one day to forgive me because I truly am sorry.” He said that he thinks about Angel all day, everyday. Despite Moses asking for forgiveness, the judge imposed a 60 year sentence. Judge Susan Sabers asked, “If this is what he does to the people he loves, what could he do to the people he doesn’t?

“It means nobody else is going to be hurt by him and a lot more people are going to be safe. There’s going to be a lot less heartache out there,” said Brandt.

Brandt also had a message to others in abusive relationships. She said, “I would beg anybody living with abuse, use your voice. It is the most effective weapon you have to take the power away from the monster. Tell any body and everybody who will listen and don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

This isn’t the first time Moses has spent time in jail. He was charged three times with domestic battery or aggravated assault in Texas and Arkansas relating to his ex-wife and roommate. He was arrested in May of 2014 for assaulting Schroeder, but the charges were dropped in June, six months before she was killed.